Vladimir Popović in action again: How to undermine the BiH Border Police

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Three years ago, specifically in April 2017, the previous BiH Council of Ministers was presented with a proposal for a new Rulebook on the Internal Organization of the Border Police of BiH. Prior to that, the draft Rulebook was presented at the Border Service Directorate of BiH building in Sarajevo and immediately caused conflicting views within this police agency.

The Rulebook was presented at the time by Vladimir Popović, one of the highest-ranking officials of the Border Police. It was Popović who appointed the working groups that worked on drafting the Rulebook, and they were composed of inspectors of Croatian and Serbian nationality, while two inspectors of Bosniak nationality were listed only on paper.

It turned out that the new Rulebook on Internal Organization in the BiH Border Police was actually nothing more than another victory over professionalism and reason, all under the guise of reforms. The Rulebook could already be read at the time as an attack on the fundamental values of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a direct undermining of the principle of balance among constituent peoples.

More precisely: The draft Rulebook called for single-nationality services at border crossings. Primarily, local staff would work in them, which was another particular absurdity. According to the Rulebook, the Border Police should have 11 regional offices: Bihać, Gradiška, Brčko, Bijeljina, Zvornik with Tuzla Airport, Višegrad, Trebinje, Čapljina, Grude, Bosansko Grahovo, and Sarajevo Airport.
Thus, five new field offices would be established, employing mostly local residents.

Just as then, so today, Vladimir Popović is again rushing down the old paths with the new Council of Ministers. Employees of the BiH Border Police, who, of course, are again opposing such a brutal division of staff based on the territory where they live, see this as a concept identical to the one advocated by the current political elites led by HDZ BiH. If the Rulebook comes to life in practice, it will very quickly become apparent that it served narrow party interests and the further "rounding off of national territories.".

The director of the Border Police, Zoran Galić, did not participate in the drafting of the new Rulebook at the time. Today, he is again silent and not expressing his stance on this renewed deception by Popović. Therefore, attacks on the BiH Border Police continue. Tragically and paradoxically, the attacks come from within the Border Police itself. The BiH Council of Ministers faces an old-new challenge.